We decided on placing each person in a different position to make the freeze-frames more interesting to watch. We had Dan, who was playing the German to use hand gestures, of pointing at the person who was going to be next out and at the end when the last person remaining was to be sent out, Dan would fold his arms and have a huge smirk on his face. Those who had been sent out would go upstage with their backs to the audience and heads down, to show their depression. Dan’s character was the central character in the scene. Everyone else showed little movement or expression, which allowed Dan’s character to shine out, his superior and cruel character.
During these activities, we explored the different ways we could interpret stories across to an audience. We used a poem as a starting point and used that as basis of a scene, where we managed to use different forms and strategies of drama to create it. We had to explore different ideas before coming to a final one. The narration over the still images was effective as the tone of voice we used was a very solemn and depressing voice. This shows the connection to the overall tone of the poem, which is depressing, which was what we tried to show through voice, movement and space. In our interrogation-devised scene, we had the use of loud and furious pitches of the police officers compared to the more weak and nervous voice of the suspect. Here a contrast in the characters could be shown and the level of status was put across. The main theme of these activities in this workshop was “Interrogation”.
DEVELOPMENT
We were given a piece of drama text in form of a play. It was an extract from the play by Ariel Dorfman called “Death and the Maiden”. By reading the extract, we knew that the character Paulina had kidnapped Roberto, who has done something to her and she is seeking revenge. The music of Schubert is somehow of significance to the play. The music adds a sense of melancholy to the play. When we received another extract from the play (Act2 scene 1) we discover that Roberto had supposedly played a part in torturing and raping Paulina during the Chilean Military Coup of the 70’s.
We were given a task to devise the “finale” to the play using the information we were given and the ways of presenting drama we have explored earlier on. There were three characters involved; Paulina, Roberto and Gerardo, but extra characters maybe added if necessary. I decided to research more into the background of the play, into why Paulina is in this situation, what exactly happened in this Chilean Military Coup, so I can get a better understanding of the play and it will allow me to develop the character which I will play; Paulina.
I found out that the during this “Coup” many people were taken and tortured and killed due to their disagreement with the dictatorship of General Pinochet. Here is a photo of the graveyard of the victims. This photo enables me to understand that these victims died tragically and with little sympathy as you can tell by their wooden and barbed wire gravestones. It’s quite depressing. I also managed to get a victim of the Military Coup’s account on the event. Here are a few extracts from his account:
“Right-wing neighbours, who resented my work for a local community group, had denounced me,”
“Prisoners were taken out at gunpoint and forced to lie face-down on the floor of a bus, police with sub-machine guns standing astride us.”
“We were guarded by soldiers and there were sand-bagged machine-gun emplacements”
“He was taken out for his first heavy interrogation… When he returned he could hardly hear or speak: he had been hooded and beaten about the head and ears with a flat wooden bat.”
By using this information I had gained a deeper knowledge of how my character feels in the play, why she resents the man she has chosen to capture so much. I read through it and I was disturbed and disgusted at the attitude the victims received. We were also given a leaflet on Amnesty International, which is an organisation that helps to prevent unnecessary torture in the world.
We originally had only the three main characters in our scene, but when we had gone through the scene we realised it was too short, so we added an extra character (Policewoman (Jess)) and extended the scene. Our first approach was to start off with Roberto (Debbie) being tied to a chair, with the light focused on her. Paulina (Me) enters with a scarf and ties it around his mouth. Gerardo (Dan) enters and snatches the scarf off Paulina as he feels what Paulina is doing is wrong and Paulina in answer to this threatens him with a gun. This builds tension between the two characters making them more interesting to watch. Then there’s a freeze-frame and Roberto says a monologue to reveal his thoughts on the situation to the audience, how frightened he is. Then Paulina uses the gun and makes Gerardo sit down and so does she. We placed the three chairs used, in a line spaced apart. The chairs symbolise stability for the characters, when they sit down, yet it also symbolises the pain and torment for Paulina who had been through the torture and now for Roberto to go through it. We used little props, three chairs and a table with two chairs in the corner was all that was needed and they all symbolise the situation. The gun is significant because it brings tension to the scene as whether or not it is going to be used on anyone.
Then the scene carries on from there with the ending being that Paulina and Roberto have both just killed Gerardo and then out of more revenge, I kill Roberto. We had an open ending, which we could create a new beginning so to speak. We asked ourselves, “What happens to Paulina now then?” This open ending created a climax releasing tension into the scene.
With this open ending, it allowed us now to develop our scene more. We decided to change the scene, and have it starting off at the police station, where Paulina is being interrogated about the two dead bodies found in her home. Paulina refuses to speak. Then we have a flashback and we perform the scene we had originally done. Then when that ends we go back to the police station, where Paulina denies any charge of murder. We then thought of having Roberto and Gerardo appearing back into the scene as apirrations and make Paulina become confused and afraid and show that what she has done will forever always be haunting her. We thought about how about we could do this and here is a sample of our script explaining how we presented this:
Paulina: (looks frustrated and confused) It was just him! (Puts her hands on her head)
Policewoman:(looks annoyed and impatient) Who is “him”? Tell me Paulina! (Implying) You murdered Roberto and Gerardo didn’t you.
Light falls slowly on Roberto and Gerardo who are both sitting, tied to a chair, with their heads down. They then move their heads in the direction of Paulina with no expression on them. Only Paulina can see them.
Paulina: (Her face becomes pale, her eyes widen and she screams in fright) Okay I did it! It was me!(She starts to cry)
Roberto and Gerardo heads’ drop down instantly to face the floor once again and the lights immediately goes off on them when they do this and focus back on Paulina.
Paulina: (Guilty and confused) I never meant to kill Gerardo that was an accident, (change of tone, more sinister) but Dr Miranda, well he deserved everything he got!
Policewoman:(Satisfied) Well you will get everything you deserve, now Paulina Escobar I’m arresting you for murder. (Goes to press the tape player) Interview terminated.
Paulina:(sits in silence and in utter confusion)
Lights fade away and curtains fall.
End of the scene.
We developed a split focus between Gerardo and Paulina after Paulina threatens Gerardo, during our last rehearsal. The usage of this allows the audience to engage more into the scene and the understanding of the differences between the two characters. The part where I begin torturing Roberto, I put on a voice that is happy, yet in a crazy and malevolent way, I do this to allow the audience to see what happened to Paulina when she was tortured, which has now mentally scared her. We decided to add a freeze-frame to the part where Roberto and Paulina have the gun pointing at Gerardo, then Paulina and Roberto both do thought tracking of how they feel at the exact point when they both realise that they’re going to kill Gerardo. This builds tension and brings an anti-climax to the scene. I would mark this moment, because it leaves the audience in great suspense and make them await the consequence of this moment. I portrayed my character with a sense of insanity because I felt that with such a horrific memory stored inside her, it would have some mental defects towards her behaviour. Throughout the scene I played my character with a sense of confusion, because I feel as though if I was in her situation I would be extremely confused, in whether seeking revenge is an option and if this man that I have kidnapped is the right person or not? When I’m performing the scene I make sure that for where it’s needed, I produce a softer or more sinister tone of voice to suit what I’m saying. For example when Paulina has just admitted what she had done, she says that she didn’t mean to kill Gerardo and I say it with meaning and regret. But when Paulina says that Roberto deserved all he got, I make sure that I say it with a sinister and proud way to show the strong contrast between Paulina’s attitudes towards Roberto and Gerardo. Some of Paulina’s lines in our scene contains abusive language, this is because when we read the extracts of the play, we noticed that Dorfman has made her speak in this way, perhaps to show her change in character to the norm and a way of interpreting her anger.
EVALUATION
During this workshop, I’ve explored different approaches to interpreting drama texts. The preparation work we did on status and interrogation was a good way of allowing me to explore all the different strategies of drama, using different drama mediums and using different elements of drama to interpret a situation.
When doing the Person A and B activity, it allowed me take on several different roles, one after the other and then remembering each situation, who I was with, what I was doing by marking the moment of each scene. So when I returned to that scene again, I knew where I had left of from and whom I was playing. This activity had a very quick tempo, as each scene only lasted about thirty seconds to a minute and we moved straight onto the next. This allowed me to develop my communication skills with others whilst working at a set pace.
When doing the interrogation scene, we were given a situation but with no story. It was up to us to decide why this person is being interrogated. There were a wide variety of stories we could use. This interrogation could be of something as simple as stealing sweets from the shop, to something more serious and as complicated as a being questioned if you were a traitor to the government and it’s a life or death situation. What my group decided on was to deal with a murder case and the monologues we used in it were effective.
I watched one group perform their version of the situation. They had the suspect tied to a chair, whilst one of the other characters was walking around him circles interrogating him. I thought this idea was most effective and the interaction between these two characters at one point was very strong, when the suspect was facing eye to eye with the interrogator. This provided a very tense atmosphere. The third character was a second interrogator, but they had a more calm approach to the interrogation, where as the first interrogator used violence. Here we had an example of the contrasting of the two characters, “a good and bad cop” scenario. I thought how they had the light on the suspect, which was the focal point of the scene, was a good effect. The ending freeze-frame had the suspect back to his original position at the start, tied up and with his head down. You couldn’t see the actor’s facial expressions at the end so it left a sense of mystery and awe behind.
When watching other groups perform their interpretation of the poem that we were given, I saw how they all used the space and height to their advantage. One group had a formation, where they were all standing behind each other, with the tallest at the front, then one by one, as each section of the poem was read, they would move out of the line until revealing the last person who was the narrator. Their formation was simplistic but interesting to watch. When the last section was read, the four at the front would, in time with each other, turn their backs to the audience, this I thought was effective. Here is a sketch of the formation they used:
In our “Death and the Maiden” finale scene, when we performed it, it went really well. I think when I was playing the character of Paulina I was really in role I felt. When I said my lines I knew I meant them. After researching into the Chilean Military Coup I discovered what had actually happened and I knew how the character Paulina must have felt and what led her to become who she is now. So in our scene, when Roberto says to Paulina, “You’re crazy!” and Paulina replies, “Crazy, I’m not crazy,” but I said to myself to say that line in psychopathic way to produce irony, as Paulina is in a way crazy, but perhaps more mentally scared by what had happened to her. I thought when my character was being interrogated that I played the part really well, into how Paulina would react in the situation. I portrayed the character well by showing her emotions through the constant fidgeting she was doing while being questioned and by making little eye contact with the police officer, it showed that she was guilty.
While watching other people’s interpretation of the finale to “Death and the Maiden” I noticed that almost every group had a twist to the ending, whether it was that Gerardo ended up dying or Paulina ending up being tied in the chair herself. Even though this was the case, each group presented it using different strategies and mediums of drama. One group had a similar idea to the idea we used in my group’s interpretation. They started the scene in a court, where Paulina was being tried for and they had flashbacks of what actually happened and even when Roberto had died, he still haunts Paulina. A lot of people had monologues, which worked well and was used in the appropriate places. I learnt from one group, who used this idea of “devil and angel”. Where the person, would hear two different voices, one was telling them to do this and the other would be going against it and telling him to do the opposite. I saw this group carry it out and it worked really well. The devil voice sounded more sinister and evil, than the angel voice, which was softer. This explorative strategy I hadn’t used yet so I will consider approaching it next time.
Another group, Kira, Kitty and Ollie, had a very emotive and strong ambience in their scene. Kira played the part of Roberto. She was upstage being tied to a chair, with tape over her mouth. Then Ollie (Gerardo) and Kitty (Paulina), downstage, were arguing over what Paulina was doing and that Gerardo disagreed with the idea. At one point, they both left the scene and Roberto was left in the scene and managed to untie himself and did a soliloquy, revealing his thoughts and he used abusive language to illustrate his anger and resentment for Paulina who has captured him when he is innocent. “I hate that cow!” This was quite amusing for the audience but serious also. At the end, there was a twist to the story, where Roberto kills Gerardo by accident and then feels guilty and kills himself. The scene ends here on a very emotive tone and what had just happened passed very quickly with little dialogue. This I thought was a good idea to let body language reveal the characters feelings. Kira put on a very confused and guilty face just before she killed herself and Kitty looked extremely angry and sad over the death of her beloved Gerardo. They used only one chair and a gun in their scene and the story still came through with a lot of useful techniques and the Schubert music at the beginning added more to the suspense and the disturbing situation that was going on. I learnt from this that you don’t need the full set of props, furniture, lighting and scenery to create a good performance and it’s more to do with the drama strategies and elements used but the drama mediums used can develop a performance to a higher level of understanding for the audience to watch and enjoy.